WASHINGTON: The special counsel who prosecuted Hunter Biden accused US President Joe Biden on Tuesday of undermining public confidence in the justice system with his criticism of the investigation into his son.

Hunter Biden, 54, was convicted of gun and tax crimes in cases brought by special counsel David Weiss but was pardoned by his father in December.

Weiss, in his final report on the case released on Monday, noted that the president, in announcing the pardon, had criticized the prosecution of his son, calling it “selective,” “unfair,” “infected” by “raw politics,” and a “miscarriage of justice.”

“This statement is gratuitous and wrong,” Weiss said. “Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.”

The special counsel said the prosecutions of Hunter Biden were “the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics.

“Calling those rulings into question and injecting partisanship into the independent administration of the law undermines the very foundation of what makes America´s justice system fair and equitable,” he said.